Used paper recycling apparatus and its constituent devices

ABSTRACT

A used paper recycling apparatus capable to be installed in small office or general household, friendly to environment and low in running cost, and assuring high confidentiality. A used paper recycling apparatus comprising a pulp making section for crushing and beating used paper and making into pulp, a paper making section for recycling paper by making used paper pulp from the pulp making section, and a control section for driving and controlling by interlocking the pulp making section and paper making section, which are incorporated in a furniture size apparatus case, in which the pulp making section includes a crushing unit for stirring and grinding the used paper, and a beating unit for beating the crushed used paper from the crushing unit, and the crushing unit and beating unit are circulating the used paper pulp.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation Application of patent applicationSer. No. 11/524,959, filed on Sep. 22, 2006, which is based on JapaneseApplication No. 2005-276794, filed Sep. 22, 2005, the entire contents ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a used paper recycling apparatus, and its pulpmanufacturing device, pulp supplying device, and dewatering device, andmore particularly to a used paper recycling apparatus for processing theused paper into recycled paper, at the site of origin of used paper,without discarding the used paper.

2. Description of the Related Art

Government offices, private companies, and general household areproducing tons of used paper every day. The used paper is discarded aswaste matter or refuse, incinerated and disposed.

On the other hand, from the global need of effective use of limitedresources on earth, various technologies are developed for recycling theused paper without discarding.

These used paper recycling technologies are mostly employed andpracticed in the paper making industry, and used paper recyclingfacilities require, like the usual paper making facilities, a vastfactory land, a tremendous investment, and a huge quantity of water andchemicals used in paper making in order to recycle paper at high speed,massive quantity, and high quality.

Used paper recycling also needs human labor for collection of usedpaper, and this used paper collection involves many problems, includingmixing of foreign matter by many collection workers, improper sorting ofpaper due to lack of knowledge about recycling, and failure of removalof matter to be avoided, and if used paper is collected, final sortingor cleaning by professional workers should be required to achieve 100%as recycled paper. Further, confidential documents are not collected butare incinerated, and the recycling efficiency is not enough.

To solve these problems in used paper recycling, a technology forrecycling the used paper at the origin is effective, and such apparatushas been developed and proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-OpenNo. H6-134331.

This apparatus is a wet process shredder for tearing used paper andcutting into small pieces while adding a small quantity of water, andshredded chips are sent to a recycling factory and used as material forrecycled paper.

Since chips delivered from the wet process shredder are in pulp form andare not readable, recycling of confidential documents may be promoted.

However, the wet process shredder is a huge machine and requires a widespace for installation, and it is usable only in a big office, and it isnot suited to small shop or general household limited in space or smallin the quantity of used paper. If shredded chips are used as materialfor recycling, it is applicable only in a large-scale plant, and therecycling cost is high, and it is not economical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is hence a primary object of the invention to present a novel usedpaper recycling apparatus solving the problems of the prior art.

It is other object of the invention to present a used paper recyclingapparatus that can be installed not only in a big office but also insmall shop or general household, and is friendly to the environment andlow in running cost, and is capable of preventing leak of confidentialinformation or private data, and assuring high confidentiality.

It is another object of the invention to present a pulp making device, apulp supply device, and a dewatering device for composing such usedpaper recycling apparatus.

To achieve these objects, a first aspect of the invention is a usedpaper recycling apparatus comprising a pulp making section for crushingand beating the used paper and making into pulp, a paper making sectionfor recycling paper by making used paper pulp from the pulp makingsection, and a control section for driving and controlling byinterlocking the pulp making section and paper making section, which areincorporated in a furniture size apparatus case, in which the pulpmaking section includes a crushing unit for stirring and grinding theused paper, and a beating unit for beating the crushed used paper fromthe crushing unit, and the crushing unit and beating unit arecirculating the used paper pulp.

Herein, “Beating” is a process of controlling the length of fibers byfibrillating the pulp by beating and grinding pulp fibers.

Preferred embodiments include the following configurations.

(1) A water circulating system in which water collected by dewatering inthe paper making section is circulated and used in the pulp makingsection.

(2) The driving source of pulp making section and paper making sectionis the power source driven by a general household alternating-currentpower source.

(3) Moving means is provided in the apparatus case so as to be movableon the floor of installation.

(4) The crushing unit of the pulp making section includes stirring meansfor stirring the used paper, and water feeding means for supplying waterto the stirring means, and the used paper charged from the inlet of theapparatus case is stirred in the water, and crushed and beaten.

(5) The stirring means includes a stirring tank for storing watersupplied from the water feeding means having an inlet for used paper, astirring impeller rotatably provided in the stirring tank, and a drivemotor for rotating and driving the stirring impeller.

(6) A shredder unit is provided at the inlet of the stirring tank, andthe used paper charged into the inlet is preliminarily cut by theshredder unit, and is stirred by the stirring impeller.

(7) The water feeding means includes a white water collecting tank forcollecting white water filtered and dewatered in the paper makingsection, and a water feed pump for supplying the water in the whitewater collecting tank into the stirring means of the pulp makingsection.

(8) The beating unit of the pulp making section includes a beating tankcommunicating with the stirring tank of the crushing unit, a beaterroller provided rotatably in the beating tank, and a drive motor forrotating and driving the beater roller, and the used paper pulp suppliedin the beating tank from the stirring tank is beaten by the beaterroller, and is circulated again into the stirring tank.

(9) The beating tank is formed integrally in the lower part of thestirring tank, and the boundary from the stirring tank is opened andclosed.

(10) The pulp making section is disposed at the downstream side of thestirring tank, and includes pulp concentration adjusting means foradjusting the concentration of used paper pulp manufactured in thestirring tank, and this pulp concentration adjusting means is composedof a concentration adjusting tank for storing the used paper pulpmanufactured in the stirring tank, and water feeding means forconcentration adjustment for supplying water into the concentrationadjusting tank, and the used paper pulp manufactured in the stirringtank is adjusted in concentration in the concentration adjusting tank bysupply of water from the water feeding means for concentrationadjustment, and a pulp suspension of specified concentration isprepared.

(11) In the concentration adjusting tank, water from the water feedingmeans for concentration adjustment is added to the whole volume of usedpaper pulp manufactured in the stirring tank, and the total volume ofused paper pulp and water is adjusted to a specified value, so that apulp suspension of specified concentration is prepared.

(12) The water feeding means for supplying water into the stirring meansalso has a function as the water feeding means for concentrationadjustment.

(13) The paper making section includes a paper making net conveyor unitfor making wet paper from the slurry pulp suspension containing waterand used paper pulp sent from the pulp making section, a drying beltconveyor for drying the wet paper from the paper making net conveyor toproduce recycled paper, and a dewatering roll unit for squeezing anddewatering the wet paper at the junction of the paper making netconveyor unit and drying belt conveyor unit, and the pulp suspensionsupplied from the pulp making section is processed, dewatered, anddried.

(14) The paper making net conveyor unit includes a mesh endless belthaving a specified width for conveying while processing the pulpsuspension, a drive motor for driving and moving the mesh endless belt,and a pulp feed unit for supplying the pulp suspension from the pulpmanufacturing section, and by this pulp feed unit, the pulp suspensionis supplied and spread uniformly on the surface of the mesh endlessbelt.

(15) In the pulp feed unit, the mesh endless belt is disposed upward andobliquely to the running direction, and the pulp feed unit has apartition member disposed to contact slidably with the lower side of themesh endless belt, and a frame body disposed to contact slidably withthe upper side of the mesh endless belt, and the pulp suspensionsupplied in the frame body is uniformly diffused on the surface of meshendless belt by the retaining action in collaboration of the frame bodyand partition member, and by the running action of mesh endless belt, itis conveyed together with the mesh endless belt while keeping the widthdimension defined by the frame body, and it is designed to dewater bythe gravity filtering action by the mesh of the mesh endless belt.

(16) The partition member is a louver structure slidably supporting thelower side of the mesh endless belt, and the flow-down supply positionof pulp suspension at the base end side has a flat plate member forsupporting the mesh of the mesh endless belt in closed state.

(17) An overflow tank is provided in the frame body, and the pulpsuspension supplied in the frame body is once stored in the overflowtank, and overflows, and flows down on the flat plate member of thepartition member.

(18) At the upstream side of the pulp feed unit, a pulp feed tankstoring the pulp suspension manufactured in the pulp making section isprovided, and the pulp suspension in the pulp feed unit is continuouslysupplied into the frame body of the pulp feed unit by a suspension feedpump.

(19) Stirring means for stirring the pulp suspension is provided in thepulp feed tank.

(20) The drying belt conveyor unit includes a smooth surface endlessbelt having a specified width for receiving and conveying the wet papermade and formed in the paper making net conveyor unit, a drive motor fordriving and moving the smooth surface endless belt, and a heating anddrying unit for heating and drying the wet paper on the smooth surfaceendless belt, and at the downstream side position of the dewateringroll, the squeezed and dewatered wet paper on the paper making netconveyor unit is transferred and fixed and conveyed on the lower side ofthe smooth surface endless belt by the smooth surface structure of thesmooth surface endless belt.

(21) The drying and heating unit has at least one heating unit providedalong the running route of the smooth surface endless belt, and the wetpaper on the smooth surface endless belt is heated and dried by theheating unit in its conveying process.

(22) The heating unit is provided in plural positions, and the heatingtemperature of heating units is individually adjusted.

(23) The heating unit of the heating and drying unit is a heater platecontacting slidably with the opposite side of the wet paper holding sideof the smooth surface endless belt, and the wet paper on the smoothsurface endless belt is indirectly heated and dried by the smoothsurface endless belt heated by the heater plate.

(24) The heating unit of the heating and drying unit is a heater rollrolling and contacting with the wet paper on the smooth surface endlessbelt, and the wet paper on the smooth surface endless belt is directlyheated and dried by the heater roll.

(25) The heating unit of the heating and drying unit is a hot air heaterfor blowing hot air to the wet paper on the smooth surface endless belt,and the wet paper on the smooth surface endless belt is directly heatedand dried by the hot air heater.

(26) The smooth surface endless belt is composed of an elastic heatresistant material withstanding the heating action of the heating anddrying unit.

(27) The smooth surface endless belt is a fluoroplastic belt.

(28) The smooth surface endless belt is a steel belt.

(29) The dewatering roll unit rolls and squeezes the mesh endless beltof the paper making net conveyor unit and the smooth surface endlessbelt of the drying belt conveyor flatly from upper and lower sides, andsqueezes and dewaters the wet paper on the mesh endless belt.

(30) The dewatering roll unit includes a dewatering roll rolling andcontacting with the mesh endless belt from the lower side, a press rollrolling and pressing the smooth surface endless belt against thedewatering roll from the lower side, and a drive motor for rotating anddriving by interlocking the both rolls, and by these two rolls, the meshendless belt and smooth surface endless belt are rolled and squeezedflatly from the upper and lower sides, and the moisture contained in thewet paper on the mesh endless belt is absorbed by the dewatering rollthrough the mesh endless belt.

(31) The dewatering roll has a dewatering layer made of porous materialof fine and continuous pores formed on the outer circumference of acylindrical roll of high rigidity material.

(32) The dewatering roll has a discharge roll for squeezing anddischarging moisture contained in the dewatering roll, and thisdischarge roll rolls and contacts with the outer circumference of thedewatering roll in pressed state, and along with rotation of thedewatering roll, the discharge roll rolls and squeezes the dewateringlayer of the dewatering roll, and the moisture absorbed in thedewatering layer is squeezed and discharged.

(33) The press roll is a cylindrical roll composed of high rigiditymaterial.

(34) At the upstream side of the dewatering roll, a preliminarilydewatering roll for rolling and pressing the mesh endless belt from thelower side is disposed.

(35) The preliminarily dewatering roll has a dewatering roll of porousmaterial of fine and continuous pores formed on the outer circumferenceof a cylindrical roll of high rigidity material.

(36) The preliminarily dewatering roll has a discharge roll forsqueezing and discharging moisture contained in the dewatering roll, andthis discharge roll rolls and contacts with the outer circumference ofthe preliminarily dewatering roll in pressed state, and along withrotation of the preliminarily dewatering roll, the discharge roll rollsand squeezes the dewatering layer of the preliminarily dewatering roll,and the moisture absorbed in the dewatering layer is squeezed anddischarged.

(37) A slurry preventive roll for rolling and pressing the smoothsurface endless belt from the upper side is disposed near the upstreamside position of the dewatering roll.

(38) The slurry preventive roll is a cylindrical roll composed of highrigidity material.

(39) A smooth surface finishing roll for rolling and pressing the wetpaper on the smooth surface endless belt is disposed in the midst ofconveying route of the smooth surface endless belt.

(40) The smooth surface finishing roll is disposed in plural parallelrows at the opposite side of the smooth surface endless belt, in theheating unit provided along the running route of the smooth surfaceendless belt of the drying and heating unit.

(41) The smooth surface finishing roll has a built-in heater, and alsohas a function as heating roll.

(42) At the downstream side of the heating and drying unit of the smoothsurface endless belt, there is a parting member for parting the drypaper dried on the smooth surface endless belt.

(43) At the downstream side of the parting member, a cutter is providefor cutting the recycled paper parted from the smooth surface endlessbelt to a specified length.

(44) In the paper making section, the smooth surface endless belt of thedrying conveyor belt unit at the downstream side and the mesh endlessbelt of the paper making net conveyor unit at the upstream side aredisposed in upper and lower layers, and at the upper and lower adjacentportion of the smooth surface endless belt and mesh endless belt, thedewatering roll is rolling and squeezing the mesh endless belt andsmooth surface endless belt flatly from the upper and lower sides.

(45) The paper making net conveyor unit and the drying belt conveyorunit are driven by a common driving source.

A second aspect of the invention is a used paper recycling apparatuscomprising a pulp making section for crushing and beating the used paperand making into pulp, and a paper making section for recycling paper bymaking used paper pulp from the pulp making section, which areincorporated in a furniture size apparatus case, in which the pulpmaking section includes a crushing unit for stirring and grinding theused paper, and a beating unit for beating the crushed used paper fromthe crushing unit, and the crushing unit and beating unit arecirculating the used paper pulp, and the apparatus is installed at anoriginating source of used paper, and the used paper is crushed by thepulp making section and made into used paper pulp, and the used paperpulp is processed into recycled paper by the paper making section, andthis recycled paper is used again at the originating source.

A pulp making device of the invention is used in a used paper recyclingapparatus to be installed at an originating source of used paper formanufacturing used paper pulp by crushing and beating used paper,including a crushing unit for stirring and grinding the used paper, anda beating unit for beating the crushed used paper from the crushingunit, and the crushing unit and beating unit are circulating the usedpaper pulp.

Preferred embodiments include the following configurations.

(1) The crushing unit of the pulp making section includes stirring meansfor stirring the used paper, and water feeding means for supplying waterto the stirring means, and the used paper charged from the inlet of theapparatus case is stirred in the water, and crushed and beaten.

(2) The stirring means includes a stirring tank for storing watersupplied from the water feeding means having an inlet for used paper, astirring impeller rotatably provided in the stirring tank, and a drivemotor for rotating and driving the stirring impeller.

(3) A shredder unit is provided at the inlet of the stirring tank, andthe used paper charged into the inlet is preliminarily cut by theshredder unit, and is stirred by the stirring impeller.

(4) The beating unit of the pulp making section includes a beating tankcommunicating with the stirring tank of the crushing unit, a beaterroller provided rotatably in the beating tank, and a drive motor forrotating and driving the beater roller, and the used paper pulp suppliedin the beating tank from the stirring tank is beaten by the beaterroller, and is circulated again into the stirring tank.

(5) The beater roller has beating blades disposed at equal intervals onthe outer circumference, and is supported rotatably around thehorizontal shaft, the beating tank has a coaxial cylindrical inner wallalong the contour of rotation of beating blades of the beater roller,and receiving blades cooperating with the beating blades of the beaterroller are provided on the cylindrical inner wall, and the used paperpulp flowing in the beating tank are beaten by these two blades whilepassing the gaps between the rotating beating blades and fixed receivingblades.

(6) A lead angle is provided in the beating blades of the beater roller.

(7) The receiving blades of the beating tank are provided to be movableforward and backward in the radial direction of the beater roller, andby forward and backward adjustment of receiving blades, the gaps of thebeating blades and receiving blades can be adjusted.

(8) A plurality of receiving blades are disposed at equal intervals inthe circumferential direction on the cylindrical inner wall of thebeating tank, and these receiving blades are movable forward andbackward independently in the radial direction of the beater roller, andthe beating speed of the beating unit is adjusted by control of gaps ofbeating blades and receiving blades by individual forward and backwardadjustment of receiving blades.

(9) The beating tank is formed integrally in the lower part of thestirring tank, and the boundary from the stirring tank is opened andclosed.

(10) While the crushing unit and beating unit are driven simultaneously,the beating tank composes a pulp circulation tan for circulating theused paper pulp together with the stirring tank, and the used paper pulpcirculating in the pulp circulation tank is stirred and crushed by thecrushing unit and beaten by the beating unit repeatedly.

(11) The stirring impeller of the beating unit is supported rotatablyaround the vertical axis in the bottom of the stirring tank, and a pulpinlet is opened in the beating tank at a height corresponding to theheight of installation of the stirring impeller, and by rotation ofstirring impeller flow of used paper pulp from the stirring tank intothe beating tank is promoted.

A pulp supply device of the invention is incorporated in a used paperrecycling apparatus of furniture size installed at the originatingsource of used paper, being a device for composing the pulp supplysection of a paper making device for producing recycled paper byprocessing used paper pulp manufactured in pulp making section in apreceding process, for spreading uniformly and supplying slurry pulpsuspension containing water and used paper pulp sent from the pulpmaking section, on the surface of mesh endless belt on which the papermaking net conveyor runs.

Preferred embodiments include the following configurations.

(1) Comprising a partition member disposed slidably on the lower side ofmesh endless belt, and a frame body disposed slidably on the upper sideof mesh endless belt and defining the supply width of pulp suspension,the pulp suspension supplied in the frame body is diffused uniformly onthe surface of running mesh endless belt disposed obliquely upward tothe running direction, by the retention action by cooperation of theframe body and partition member.

(2) The partition member is a louver structure slidably supporting thelower side of the mesh endless belt, and the flow-down supply positionof pulp suspension at the base end side has a flat plate member forsupporting the mesh of the mesh endless belt in closed state.

(3) The frame body has a flat U-shaped main body frame opened at theleading end in the running direction side of mesh endless belt, and anoverflow tank provided at the rear end of the main body frame, and thepulp suspension supplied in the frame body is once stored in theoverflow tank, and overflows, and flows down on the flat plate member ofthe partition member.

(4) The main body frame has its inner width set in the width size of thepaper to be recycled, and defines the supply width of pulp suspension,and its lower end side slides on the upper side of the obliquely runningmesh endless belt.

(5) The overflow tank is affixed integrally at the rear end of main bodyframe, and the upper end edge of front wall is formed horizontally andstraightly, and the upper end edge of front wall of overflow tankfunction as overflow unit of pulp suspension.

A dewatering device of the invention is incorporated in a used paperrecycling apparatus of furniture size installed at the originatingsource of used paper, being a device for composing the dewateringsection of a paper making device for producing recycled paper byprocessing used paper pulp manufactured in pulp making section in apreceding process, installed at a junction of a paper making netconveyor unit for manufacturing wet paper from slurry pulp suspensioncontaining water and used paper pulp sent from the pulp making section,and a drying belt conveyor for making recycled paper by drying the wetpaper formed in the paper making conveyor unit, for rolling andsqueezing the mesh endless belt of the paper making net conveyor unitand the smooth surface endless belt of the drying belt conveyor flatlyfrom upper and lower sides, and squeezing and dewatering the wet paperon the mesh endless belt.

Preferred embodiments include the following configurations.

(1) Comprising a dewatering roll rolling on the mesh endless belt fromthe lower side, a press roll rolling and pressing the smooth surfaceendless belt from the upper site opposite to the dewatering roll, and adrive motor for rotating and driving the both rolls, and by thedewatering roll and press roll, the mesh endless belt and smooth surfaceendless belt are rolled and squeezed flatly from the upper and lowersides, and the moisture contained in the wet paper on the mesh endlessbelt is absorbed by the dewatering roll through the mesh endless belt.

(2) The dewatering roll has a dewatering layer made of porous materialof fine and continuous pores formed on the outer circumference of acylindrical roll of high rigidity material.

(3) A discharge roll is provided for squeezing and discharging moisturecontained in the dewatering layer of the dewatering roll, and thisdischarge roll rolls and contacts with the outer circumference of thedewatering roll in pressed state, and along with rotation of thedewatering roll, the discharge roll rolls and squeezes the dewateringlayer of the dewatering roll, and the moisture absorbed in thedewatering layer is squeezed and discharged.

(4) The press roll is a cylindrical roll composed of high rigiditymaterial.

(5) At the upstream side of the rolling and squeezing position by bothbelts of dewatering roll and press roll, a preliminarily dewatering rollfor rolling and pressing the mesh endless belt from the lower side isdisposed.

(6) The preliminarily dewatering roll has a dewatering roll of porousmaterial of fine and continuous pores formed on the outer circumferenceof a cylindrical roll of high rigidity material.

(7) A discharge roll is provided for squeezing and discharging moisturecontained in the dewatering layer of the preliminarily dewatering roll,and this discharge roll rolls and contacts with the outer circumferenceof the preliminarily dewatering roll in pressed state, and along withrotation of the preliminarily dewatering roll, the discharge roll rollsand squeezes the dewatering layer of the preliminarily dewatering roll,and the moisture absorbed in the dewatering layer is squeezed anddischarged.

(8) A slurry preventive roll for rolling and pressing the smooth surfaceendless belt from the upper side is disposed near the upstream side ofrolling and squeezing position of the both belts of dewatering roll andpress roll.

(9) The slurry preventive roll is a cylindrical roll composed of highrigidity material.

According to the invention, the following outstanding features andeffects are obtained, and it presents a used paper recycling apparatusthat can be installed not only in a big office but also in small shop orgeneral household, and is friendly to the environment and low in runningcost, and is capable of preventing leak of confidential information orprivate data, and assuring high confidentiality.

(1) A pulp making section for crushing and beating the used paper andmaking into pulp, a paper making section for recycling paper by makingused paper pulp from the pulp making section, and a control section fordriving and controlling by interlocking the pulp making section andpaper making section are incorporated in a furniture size apparatuscase, and therefore the used paper can be recycled at the origin withoutbeing discarded, and the disposal is saved, and refuse problems aresolved, and the limited resources can be utilized effectively.

Hitherto, recycling is not encouraged due to confidential problems, butwhen the used paper can be recycled at the origin, the effects ofeffective use of resources are tremendous.

(2) Since a compact used paper recycling apparatus having same functionas large-scale plant is installed at the origin of used paper, paper canbe used continuously repeatedly by recycling also at small shop orgeneral household, and transportation and incineration cost ofcollection and disposal of used paper can be saved and it is veryeconomical.

(3) The pulp making section includes a crushing unit for stirring andgrinding the used paper, and a beating unit for beating the crushed usedpaper from the crushing unit, and the crushing unit and beating unit arecirculating the used paper pulp, and therefore the used paper pulp isbeaten efficiently according to the purpose, and appropriate beatingeffects are obtained, and recycled paper of high quality ismanufactured.

(4) By the pulp making section for crushing and beating used paper, thepaper is decomposed into fibers, and printed characters and diagrams arenot readable, and leak of confidential and personal information can beprevented, and high confidentiality is assured.

(5) Besides, the apparatus is compact and can be installed in a smallspace of office, shop or general household, and from this point of view,too, leak of confidential and personal information can be prevented.

(6) The water used in the pulp making section is circulated water afterdewatering and collecting in the paper making section, and the drivingsource of the pulp making section and paper making section is a drivesource driven by general household alternating-current power source, andit is friendly to environment and low in running cost, and is henceeconomical.

(7) Being installed at the origin of used paper, the used paper isdecomposed and transformed into used paper pulp by the pulp makingsection, and the used paper pulp is processed into recycled paper by thepaper making section, and this recycled paper is used again at theorigin, and therefore information of characters and diagrams printed inthe used paper is not disclosed to outside of the origin, and leak ofconfidential and personal information is prevented securely, and highconfidentiality is assured. At the same time, the resources can beutilized effectively.

By using the used paper recycling apparatus of the invention, there isno risk of diffusion of information to outside of the origin (forexample, school, hospital, city office, law office, patent office,general household).

In other words, in the case of conventional shredder, if the used paperis cut into small pieces and printed characters and diagrams are notreadable, cut pieces of paper are collected and transported and disposedat the incinerator or the like, and hence diffusion to outside of theorigin cannot be prevented completely. To prevent diffusion to outside,used paper may be stored in the own warehouse or the like, but suchplace of storage is needed, and the resources cannot be used again.

By contrast, according to the used paper recycling apparatus of theinvention, information printed in used paper is not diffused outside ofthe origin, and the resources can be utilized effectively.

These and other objects and feature of the invention will be appreciatedmore clearly by reading the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings and novel facts mentioned inthe claims thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of general structure of used paper recyclingapparatus in preferred embodiment 1 of the invention, showing theapparatus case cut open.

FIG. 2 is a partially see-through perspective view of beating unit ofpulp making section of the used paper recycling apparatus.

FIG. 3A is a side view of the beating unit, showing the inside ofbeating tank partially cut open.

FIG. 3B is a front view of the beating unit, showing the inside ofbeating tank partially cut open.

FIG. 4A is a side view of the beating unit, showing a beater roller.

FIG. 4B is a front view of the beating unit, showing the beater rollerpartially cut open.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of outline of paper making section of theused paper recycling apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of drive linkage mechanism of the paper makingsection.

FIG. 7 is a magnified perspective view of structure of pulp feed unit ofthe paper making section.

FIG. 8 is a partially cut-away front view of pulp feed unit.

FIG. 9A is a schematic diagram explaining a specific mechanism ofsqueezing and dewatering of dewatering roll unit of the paper makingsection, showing a basic squeezing and dewatering mechanism.

FIG. 9B is a schematic diagram explaining a specific mechanism ofsqueezing and dewatering of dewatering roll unit of the paper makingsection, showing a squeezing and dewatering mechanism having a slurrypreventive roll provided near the upstream side of the dewatering rollunit.

FIG. 10 is a front view of general structure of used paper recyclingapparatus in preferred embodiment 2 of the invention, showing theapparatus case cut open.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of outline of paper making section of theused paper recycling apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of drive linkage mechanism of the paper makingsection.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of outline of used paper recyclingapparatus in preferred embodiment 3 of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a cut-away front view of apparatus case in general structureof the used paper recycling apparatus.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of outline structure of used paperrecycling apparatus in preferred embodiment 4 of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of outline structure of used paperrecycling apparatus in preferred embodiment 5 of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the inventionare specifically described below.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 16 show the used paper recycling apparatus of theinvention, and same parts or components are identified with samereference numerals throughout the drawings.

Preferred Embodiment 1

The used paper recycling apparatus of the invention is shown in FIG. 1to FIG. 9, and this used paper recycling apparatus 1 is installed at theorigin of used paper, and recycles to be reusable at the same sitewithout discarding the used paper, and the used paper UP includesconfidential documents at government offices and private companies,personal letters at the general household, and other papers.

The used paper recycling apparatus 1 mainly consists of pulp makingsection 2, paper making section 3, and control section 4 as shown inFIG. 1, and these sections 2 to 4 are assembled in an apparatus case 5in a compact design, and the driving source of the pulp making section 2and paper making section 3 is a driving source driven by a generalhousehold alternating-current power source. The components arespecifically described below.

I. Apparatus Case 5

The apparatus-case 5 has a furniture size, like bookshelf, locker, desk,copier or personal computer installed in an office, and the specificshape and size may be designed properly according to the purpose. Theapparatus case 5 of the illustrated preferred embodiment is a cubic boxhaving shape and dimensions similar to those of a copier.

II. Pulp Making Section 2

The pulp making section 2 is located at the process of crushing andbeating used paper UP to make into used paper pulp, and includes acrushing unit 6 for stirring, grinding and crushing the used paper UP,and a beating unit 7 for beating the used paper UP crushed in thecrushing unit 6, and the used paper UP is circulated between thecrushing unit 6 and beating unit 7.

The crushing unit 6 includes stirring device (stirring means) 8 forstirring the used paper UP, and water feeding device (water feedingmeans) 9 for supplying water to the stirring device 8.

The stirring device 8 has a stirring tank 10, a stirring impeller 11,and a drive motor 12.

The stirring tank 10 has an inlet 10 a to be opened and closed tooutside of the apparatus case 5, in its ceiling wall, and the stirringimpeller 11 is rotatably provided in its inside (in the bottom in thediagram).

The inner volume of stirring tank 10 is determined depending on thenumber of sheets of used paper UP to be stirred and processed at once.In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the stirring tank 10 isdesigned to have a volume capable of processing about 8 sheets (about 32g) of A4 format paper from plain paper copier (PPC) by adding about 3liters of water in batch.

The stirring impeller 11 has a direct motor structure directly mountedand fixed on rotary shaft 12 a of drive motor 12 in horizontal state,and is rotated and driven normally and reversely by the drive motor 12.The drive motor 12 is an electric motor, and is electrically connectedto the control section 4.

Normal and reverse rotation of the stirring impeller 11 is intended toprevent entangling on the stirring impeller 11 when A4 size paper isdirectly stirred, by the action of water jet of reverse rotation afternormal rotation.

In relation to this action, the blade shape of stirring impeller 11 isdesigned to be different in the stirring force (diffusion effect)between normal rotation and reverse rotation, so that waste pavers UPmay be crushed and beaten uniformly.

The operation condition of stirring impeller 11 such as changeovertiming of normal rotation and reverse rotation and stirring duration isdetermined to have the best crushing and beating effect of used paper UPon the basis of data obtained from preliminary experiments.

The water feeding device 9 has a white water collection tank 15, and awater feeding pump 16. The white water collection tank 15 is, asdescribed specifically below, a tank for collecting white water W (pulpwater of extremely low concentration filtered by the paper net in thepaper making process) filtered and dewatered in the paper making section3, and the white water W collected in the white water tank 15 issupplied as water for stirring to the stirring tank 10 of the stirringdevice 8.

As described below, the water feeding device 9 functions also as waterfeeding device for concentration adjustment (water feeding means forconcentration adjustment) of pulp concentration adjusting unit 28, andfor this purpose, it has a water feeding pump for concentrationadjustment 17 for supplying the white water W in the white watercollection tank to a concentration adjusting tank 29 as water forconcentration adjustment. Reference numerals 18 and 19 are lower limitfloat switch and upper limit float switch provided in the white watercollection tank 15.

In the stirring device 8, the used paper UP charged into the stirringtank 10 from the inlet 10 a of the apparatus case 5 is stirred forspecified time (5 minutes to 30 minutes in the shown example) in thewater W supplied from the water feeding device 9 by normal and reverserotation of stirring impeller 11 by drive motor 12, and crushed andbeaten, and used paper pulp UPP is obtained.

The beating unit 7 includes a beating tank 20 communicating with thestirring tank 10 of the crushing unit 6, a beater roller 21 rotatablyprovide din the beating tank 20, and a drive motor 22 for rotating anddriving the beater roller 21.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the beating tank 20 is formed integrallyin the lower part of the stirring tank 10, and the beater roller 21 issupported inside rotatably around the horizontal axis.

The beater roller 21 has, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a plurality ofsquare columnar beating blades 24 provided on the outer circumference ofa cylindrical roller main body 23, radially at equal intervals aroundthe circumferential direction. Preferably, for increasing the cuttingforce of the beater roller 21, specified lead angle α (about 2 to 4degrees in the preferred embodiment) is provided in the beating blades24, 24, . . . .

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, the drive motor 22 is mounted andfixed in horizontal state outside of the side wall of the beating tank20, and its rotary shaft 22 a is extended and supported in horizontalstate inside the beating tank 20, and the beater roller 21 is directlymounted and fixed on the rotary shaft 22 a, and a direct motor structureis formed. The drive motor 22 is an electric motor, and is electricallyconnected to the control section 4.

The beating tank 20 has a cylindrical inner wall 20 a coaxial with thebeater roller 21, along the contour of rotation of the beating blades24, 24, . . . of the beater roller 21, and the boundary 20 b to thestirring tank 10 is a square communication opening, and thiscommunication opening 20 b is designed to open and close.

Specific structure of its opening and closing means is not shown, butconventionally known manual or automatic opening and closing lid isused, and the lid member of opening and closing lid is not particularlyspecified, and may include a plate material of complete closing type,and mesh type for passing only used paper pulp UPP smaller thanspecified particle size. The opening and closing means closes thecommunication opening 20 b when the operation of beating unit 7 isstopped, and prevents entry of used paper UP or used paper pulp UPP fromthe stirring tank 10 of the stirring device 8 into the beating tank 20.While the beating unit 7 is operating, the communication opening 20 b isopened, and circulation flow of used paper pulp UPP is allowed betweenthe stirring tank 10 and beating tank 20.

On the cylindrical inner wall 20 a of the beating tank 20, a pluralityof receiving blades 25, 25, . . . cooperating with the beating blades24, 24, . . . of the beater roller 21 are provided radially at equalintervals in the circumferential direction. In the illustrated preferredembodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A, two square columnarreceiving blades 25, are provided. The gap size between the tip of thereceiving blades 25, 25 and the tip of beating blades 24, 24, . . . ofthe beater roller 21 is set at fractions of one millimeter, and this gapsize can be finely adjusted depending on the purpose. Since the gap sizecan be finely adjusted, the cooperating action of beating blades 24, 24,. . . and receiving blades 25, 25 produces a high pressure and slidingforce depending on the strength and driving force of the apparatusmechanical structure.

Specifically, the receiving blades 25, 25 are provided to be movableforward and backward in the radial direction of beater roller 21 bymeans of individual adjusting bolts 26, and by turning the adjustingbolts 26 and moving the receiving rollers 25 back and forth, the gapsize of beating blades 24, 24, . . . and receiving blades 25 can beadjusted. Since the plurality of (two in this case) receiving blades 25,25 are movable forward and backward independently in the radialdirection of beater roller 21, by individually adjusting the receivingblades 25, 25 and adjusting the gap size of beating blades 24, 24, . . .and receiving blades 25, 25, the beating speed of the beating unit 7 canbe properly adjusted. Also by individually adjusting the receivingblades 25, 25, the gap size can be adjusted individually, and thereforeby increasing or decreasing the receiving blades 25, 25, . . . , thebeating time can be increased or decreased depending on the number ofreceiving blades.

In the beating unit 7, by rotary motion in arrow direction of beaterroller 21 by the drive motor 22, the used paper pulp UPP supplied in thebeating tank 20 from the stirring tank 10 flows in the beating tank 20in the rotating direction of the beater roller 21, and passes throughthe gap between the rotating beating blades 24, 24, . . . of the beaterroller 21 and the fixed receiving blades 25, 25, and is beaten by theboth blades 24, 25, and is circulated again into the stirring tank 10.

In this case, if the crushing unit 6 and beating unit 7 are drivensimultaneously, the used paper pulp UPP in the stirring tank 10 stirredby the stirring impeller 11 is elevated in the water level in its outercircumference, and the used paper pulp UPP buries the beater roller 21,and further the communication opening 20 b of the beating tank 20 isentirely buried. As a result, the beating tank 20, together with thestirring tank 10 of the crushing unit 6, composes a pulp circulationcell for circulating the used paper pulp UPP, and the used paper pulpUPP circulating in the pulp circulation cells 10, 20 is stirred andcrushed by the crushing unit 6 and beaten by the beating unit 7repeatedly. In other words, the used paper pulp UPP beaten by the beaterroller 21 in the beating tank 20 of the beating unit 7 is dischargedinto the stirring tank 10 of the crushing unit 6, and is uniformlystirred by the stirring impeller 11 in the stirring tank 10, andsupplied again into the beating unit 7, and this process is repeatedseveral times, and hence the used paper pulp UPP in the tanks isuniformly crushed and beaten. As a result, an optimum paper strength isassured for the recycled paper RP manufactured in the paper makingsection 3 described below.

The stirring impeller 11 of the crushing unit 6 is, as shown in FIG. 1and FIG. 2, supported rotatably around the vertical axis in the bottomof the stirring tank 10, and the pulp inlet of the beating tank 20, thatis, the lower part of the communication opening 20 b is provided atheight position corresponding to the height of installation of thestirring impeller 11, and by the rotary action of the stirring impeller11, flow of used paper pulp UPP from the stirring tank 10 into thebeating tank 20 is promoted, and further by cooperation with rotaryaction of beater roller 21, the used paper pulp UPP circulates and flowssmoothly between the pulp circulation cells 10, 20.

The pulp concentration adjusting unit 28 is provided at the downstreamside of the stirring tank 10, and adjusts the concentration of usedpaper pulp UPP manufactured in the stirring tank 10 to an appropriateconcentration suited to the subsequent paper making process. The pulpconcentration adjusting unit 28 includes a concentration adjusting tank29 storing the used paper pulp UPP manufactured in the stirring tank 10,and a water feeding device for concentration adjustment (water feedingmeans for concentration adjustment) for supplying water to theconcentration adjusting tank 29, and the water feeding device 9 is alsoused as the water feeding device for concentration adjustment asmentioned above.

The inner volume of concentration adjusting tank 29 is determineddepending on the number of sheets (quantity) of used paper UP processedin batch in the stirring device 8. In the illustrated preferredembodiment, as mentioned above, it is designed to process about 8 sheets(about 32 g) of A4 format used paper UP in batch, and the concentrationadjusting tank 29 is designed to have a volume enough for adjusting theconcentration of a corresponding volume of used paper pulp UPP.

In relation to this, a drain port 10 b is provided in the bottom of thestirring tank 10 of the stirring device 8, and the drain port 10 b isopened and closed by a drain valve not shown. The drain valve isspecifically an electromagnetic opening and closing valve, and iselectrically connected to the control section 4.

In a specific concentration adjusting method of pulp concentrationadjusting unit 28, in the concentration adjusting tank 29, water W isadded from the water feeding device for concentration adjustment 9 tothe whole volume of used paper pulp UPP manufactured in batch in thestirring tank 10, and when the total volume of used paper pulp UPP andwater W becomes a specified value, the pulp suspension PS is designed toachieve the specified concentration. The target concentration of pulpsuspension PS to be adjusted is determined in consideration of papermaking capacity in the paper making section 3 described below, on thebasis of data of preliminary experiments, and the concentration is setat about 0.1% in the shown case. Reference numeral 30 is a float switchprovided in the concentration adjusting tank 29, which detects the waterlevel when the volume of pulp suspension PS (total volume of used paperpulp UPP and water W) in the concentration adjusting tank 29 reaches thespecified value.

Hence, in the concentration adjusting tank 29, the whole volume of usedpaper pulp UPP manufactured in the stirring tank 10 (and beating tank20) is dropped and supplied into the concentration adjusting tank 29 bygravity from the drain port 10 b of the stirring tank 10, and whitewater W is added to the used paper pulp UPP from the water feedingdevice for concentration adjustment 9 up to the specified value(detected by the float switch 30), and the concentration of the usedpaper pulp UPP is adjusted, and pulp suspension PS of specifiedconcentration is prepared. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, tothe whole volume of used paper pulp UPP (about 32 g of used paper LIP+3liters of water W), diluting water W is added from the water feedingdevice for concentration adjustment 9, and the total volume (totalamount) of used paper pulp UPP and water W is controlled to be 30liters, and hence pulp suspension PS of concentration of about 0.1%(target concentration) is prepared. The pulp suspension PS thus adjustedin concentration is sent to pulp feeding tank 85 of paper making section3 in next process by first suspension feeding pump 31.

While the used paper pulp UPP is dropped and supplied into theconcentration adjusting tank 29 from the drain port 10 b of the stirringtank 10, in the stirring tank 10, water W is supplied from the waterfeeding device 9 into the water feeding pump 16, and the stirringimpeller 11 is rotated by the drive motor 12, and the inside of thestirring tank 10 is cleaned.

Thus, the water feeding source of the water feeding device 9 is whitewater W dewatered in the paper making section 3 to be collected in thewhite water collection tank 15, and in other words, the white water Wdewatered and collected in the paper making section 3 is entirelycirculated and reused between the stirring device 8 of the crushing unit6 and the pulp concentration adjusting unit 28.

III. Paper Making Section 3

The paper making section 3 is located at the process of manufacturingrecycled paper RP by processing the used paper pulp UPP manufactured inthe crushing unit 6, and consists of a paper making net conveyor unit40, a dewatering roll unit 41, and a drying belt conveyor unit 42.

The paper making net conveyor unit 40 is a location for producing wetpaper by processing slurry pulp suspension PS containing water W andused paper pulp UPP sent from the crushing unit 6, and includes a meshendless belt 45, a drive motor 46, and a pulp feeding unit 47.

The mesh endless belt 45 processes and conveys the pulp suspension PS,and specifically it is an endless belt connected and formed in a ring ofspecified length consisting of plate member of paper making meshstructure of specified width. The specified width is set slightly largerthan the width size of the recycled paper RP to be manufacture from thepulp suspension PS. The plate member of paper making mesh structure is amaterial capable of filtering and dewatering properly the pulpsuspension PS by the innumerable mesh cells of paper making meshstructure, and is preferably made of material excellent in corrosionresistance, such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate(PET), polyamide (PA) (generally known as nylon), and stainless steel(SUS), and in the illustrated preferred embodiment, a PET mesh endlessbelt 45 is shown. The specified length is long enough for manufacturingthe pulp suspension PS in a proper weight in relation to the runningspeed of mesh endless belt 45, and is defined in a size to be containedin the accommodating space of the paper making net conveyor unit 40 inthe apparatus case 5.

The mesh endless belt 45 is, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, rotatablysuspended and supported through drive roller 65, driven roller 66,support roller 67, dewatering roll 70, and preliminarily dewatering roll74, and is driven and coupled to the drive motor 46 by way of the driveroller 65.

The drive motor 46 for running and driving the mesh endless belt 45 isan electric motor, and is electrically connected to the drive section 4.This drive motor 46 is commonly used as running and driving source ofthe dewatering roll 41 and drying conveyor 42 mentioned below, and thecommonly using structure or the drive coupling mechanism is describedlater.

The pulp feeding unit 47 is a location for feeding the pulp suspensionPS from the crushing unit 6 onto the mesh endless belt 45, andspecifically from this pulp feeding unit 47, the pulp suspension PS isuniformly spread and supplied on the surface of the mesh endless belt45.

A specific structure of the pulp feeding unit 47 is shown in FIG. 7 andFIG. 8. That is, in the pulp feeding unit 47, the mesh endless belt 45is disposed upward obliquely to the running direction, and a frame body78 and a partition member 79 are disposed at the upper and lower sidepositions of the mesh endless belt 45.

The frame body 78 is disposed slidably on the upper surface of the meshendless belt 45, and includes, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a mainbody frame 80 of flat U-shape opened at the leading end or the end ofthe running direction of the mesh endless belt 45, and an overflow tank81 provided at the rear end of the main body frame 80.

The main body frame 80 is disposed so that its lower end side 80 a mayslide on the upper surface of the obliquely running mesh endless belt45, and the inside width dimension (see FIG. 7) of the main body frame80 is set in the width dimension of recycle paper RP to be manufactured.

The overflow tank 81 is fixed integrally at the rear end of the mainbody frame 80, and its front wall upper end edge 81 a is an overflowportion formed horizontally and straightly, and in this overflow tank81, a feed opening 90 a of suspension feeding piping 90 for supplyingpulp suspension PS of pulp feeding tank 85 described below is disposedoppositely.

The pulp suspension PS is supplied and stored in the overflow tank 81from the suspension feeding piping 90, and when the overflow tank 81 isfilled up with the pulp suspension PS, by further supply of pulpsuspension PS, the pulp suspension PS overflows as indicated by arrow inFIG. 8 from the overflow portion 81 a of the overflow tank 81, and flowsdown onto a flat plate member 82 of the partition member 79 describedbelow.

The partition member 79 is disposed slidably at the lower side of themesh endless belt 45, and has, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a draininglouver structure composed of a plurality of framework members 79 a, 79a, . . . , and has the shape and dimensions for slidably supporting thefull width of lower side of the mesh endless belt 45, and the base endside position of the louver structure is closed by a flat plate member82.

The flat plate member 82 is provided at a position corresponding to theoverflow tank 81 of the frame body 78, and specifically, as shown inFIG. 8, it is disposed corresponding to the flow-down position of pulpsuspension PS overflowing from the overflow tank 81, and hence the meshat the flow-down supply position of pulp suspension PS in the meshendless belt 45 is held in closed state by the flat plate member 82.

At the upstream side of the pulp feeding unit 47, a pulp feeding tank 85is provided for supplying pulp suspension PS to the pulp feeding unit47.

This pulp feeding tank 85 stores the pulp suspension PS manufactured inthe crushing unit 6 and supplied by the first suspension feeding pump31. The pulp feeding tank 85 incorporates a stirring device 86 forstirring the stored pulp suspension PS, and the concentration of thepulp suspension PS is kept constant. The stirring device 86 is eitherstirring pump or stirring impeller, and the stirring impeller is used inthe illustrated preferred embodiment.

The pulp suspension PS stored in the pulp feeding tank 85 is detected bylower limit float switch 87 and upper limit flow switch 88, and issupplied continuously into the overflow tank 81 of the pulp feeding unit47 by a second suspension feeding pump (suspension feeding pump) 89.

Thus, the pulp suspension PS stored in the pulp feeding tank 85 issupplied into the overflow tank 81 of the pulp feeding unit 47 by thesecond suspension feeding pump 89, and this pulp suspension PS suppliedin the overflow tank 81 overflows from the overflow tank 81, and flowsdown on the flat plate member 82 as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

The pulp suspension PS is diffused uniformly on the surface of the meshendless belt 45 by the retention action by cooperation of the main bodyframe 80 of frame body 78 and partition member 79, and is conveyedtogether with the mesh endless belt 45 while keeping the width dimensionspecified by the main body frame 80 by the running action in the arrowdirection of the mesh endless belt 45, and is dewatered by the gravityfiltering action of the mesh of the mesh endless belt 45, and wet paperRP0 is formed. The white water W resulting from filtering and dewatering(pulp water of very low concentration filtered by the paper making meshin the process) is collected in the white water collecting tank 15 ofthe water feeding device 9 as mentioned above.

In the pulp feeding unit 47, the mesh endless belt 45 is supported sothat the running position may be horizontal in lateral direction, thatis, the upper side contour line at a section vertical to the runningdirection of the mesh endless belt 45 may be in horizontal state. Bysuch configuration, it is effective to prevent occurrence of bias in thelateral width direction in stagnant state of pulp suspension PS bycooperation of main body frame 80 and partition member 79, and thethickness of the prepared wet paper RP0 is uniform in lateral widthdirection, so that the thickness of the entire paper may be uniform.

Structurally, when the retention action by cooperation of main bodyframe 80 of frame body 78 and partition member 79 is effectivelyexpressed, the overflow tank 81 may be omitted, and the pulp suspensionPS may be supplied directly onto the flat plate member 82 from thesuspension feed piping 90.

The dewatering roll unit 41 is a location for squeezing and dewateringthe wet paper RP0 on the mesh endless belt 45 at linkage of the papermaking net conveyor unit 40 and drying conveyor unit 42 described below.

Specifically, a smooth surface endless belt 95 of the drying conveyorunit 42 at the downstream side, and the mesh endless belt 45 of thepaper making net conveyor unit 40 at the upstream side are disposed inupper and lower layers or tiers as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and theupper and lower adjacent portion of the smooth surface endless belt 95and mesh endless belt 45 corresponds to the linkage, and the dewateringroll unit 41 is designed to roll and squeeze the mesh endless belt 45and smooth surface endless belt 95 flatly from upper and lower sides.

The dewatering roll unit 41 mainly comprises dewatering roll 70, pressroll 71, and drive motor 72, and also has preliminarily dewatering roll74 and slurry preventive roll 75 as assisting parts.

The dewatering roll 70 rolls on the mesh endless belt 45 from the lowerside, and specifically a dewatering layer 70 b of porous material offine and continuous pores is wound on the outer circumference of acylindrical roll 70 a of rigid material .

The dewatering layer 70 b is formed of a material excellent inhydrophilic property, water absorbing property and water retainingproperty, and is preferably a porous material of fine and continuouspores excellent in flexibility. The winding structure of dewateringlayer 70 b on the cylindrical roll 70 a is either single-layer structureof winding a relatively thick dewatering layer 70 b on the outercircumference of cylindrical roll 70 a by one turn, or fitting acylindrical dewatering layer 70 b externally to the cylindrical roll 70a, or multi-layer structure of winding thin dewatering layer 70 b on theouter circumference of cylindrical roll 70 a by plural turns.

The dewatering roll 70 of the illustrated preferred embodiment is asingle-layer structure having a cylindrical dewatering layer 70 b offoamed material of fine and continuous pores of micron size fittedexternally to the cylindrical outer circumference of cylindrical roll 70a of stainless steel.

The press roll 71 rolls and presses the smooth surface endless belt 95of the drying belt conveyor unit 42 from the upper side, andspecifically it is a cylindrical roll of rigid material. The press roll71 of the illustrated preferred embodiment is a stainless steelcylindrical roll.

The dewatering roll 70 and press roll 71 are specifically driven andcoupled to a single drive motor 72, and the both rolls 70, 71 arerotated and driven in cooperation. In this case, the both rolls 70, 71are controlled in rotation so that the outer circumferences of the bothrolls 70, 71 may roll and contact with each other mutually substantiallyat same rotating speed on the contact surfaces (lower side of meshendless belt 45 and upper side of smooth surface endless belt 95) ofmesh endless belt 45 and smooth surface endless belt 95 rolled andsqueezed flatly between the outer circumferences.

The drive motor 72 is used commonly with the drive motor 46 of the papermaking net conveyor unit 40 as described below in the illustratedpreferred embodiment.

By driving of drive motor 72 (56), the both rolls 70, 71 roll andsqueeze the both belts 55, 95 flatly from upper and lower sides, andmoisture M contained in the wet paper RP0 on the mesh endless belt 45 isabsorbed by the dewatering roll 70 through the mesh endless belt 45.White water W after squeezing and dewatering is collected in the whitewater collecting tank 15 of the water feeding device 9.

Specific mechanism of squeezing and dewatering is explained by referringto FIG. 9A, in which the both rolls 70, 71 rotate, and the mesh endlessbelt 45 on which the wet paper RP0 is mounted and the smooth surfaceendless belt 95 are guided in between the both rolls 70,71 with the wetpaper RP0 interposed between them, and are rolled and squeezed flatlyfrom the upper and lower sides. As a result, the moisture M contained inthe wet paper RP0 is squeezed out to the upstream side of the both rolls70, 71 (the right side in the drawing), but since the upper side smoothsurface endless belt 95 has a smooth surface without pores as describedbelow, the squeezed moisture M entirely passes through fine andcontinuous pores of the lower side mesh endless belt 45, and is absorbedby the dewatering layer 70 b of the dewatering roll 70.

The preliminarily dewatering roll 74 and slurry preventive roll 75 areprovided for assisting the squeezing and dewatering action by the pressroll 71 and dewatering roll 70 in the dewatering roll unit 41.

The preliminarily dewatering roll 74 is disposed, as shown in FIG. 1, soas to apply tension to the mesh endless belt 45 by rolling on the meshendless belt 45 from the lower side at the upstream side of thedewatering roll unit 41.

The preliminarily dewatering roll 74 has a structure same as thedewatering roll 70, and a dewatering layer 74 b of porous material offine and continuous pores is wound on the outer circumference of acylindrical roll 74 a of rigid material. The preliminarily dewateringroll 74 in the illustrated preferred embodiment is a single layerstructure having a cylindrical dewatering layer 74 b of continuousfoamed material of fine and continuous pores of micron size wound on thecylindrical outer circumference of cylindrical roll 74 a of stainlesssteel.

The wet paper RP0 diffused uniformly on the surface of the mesh endlessbelt 45 and conveyed together with the mesh endless belt 45 is filteredand dewatered by the mesh endless belt 45, and is also absorbed anddewatered by the preliminarily dewatering roll 74, which preliminarilyassists squeezing and dewatering action of the press roll 71 anddewatering roll 70.

The slurry preventive roll 75 is disposed, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.9B, near the upstream side of the dewatering roll 41, for pressing thesmooth surface endless belt 95 to the wet paper RP0 on the lower sidemesh endless belt 45 by rolling and pressing the smooth surface endlessbelt 95 from the upper side.

A specific structure of slurry preventive roll 75 is same as in thepress roll 71, and specifically it is a cylindrical roll of rigidmaterial, and the slurry preventive roll 75 of the illustrated preferredembodiment is a cylindrical roll of stainless steel.

Referring now to FIG. 9B, when the mesh endless belt 45 and the smoothsurface endless belt 95 on which the wet paper RP0 is mounted are rolledand squeezed flatly from upper and lower side by the dewatering roll 70and press roll 71, the moisture M contained in the wet paper RP0 issqueezed to the upstream side of the both rolls 70, 71 (the right sidein the drawing), and at the same time the moisture M held in thedewatering roll 70 as a result of squeezing and dewatering is alsosqueezed out.

In this case, if the slurry preventive roll 75 is not provided, as shownin FIG. 9A, near the upstream side of the both rolls 70, 71, the upperside smooth surface endless belt 95 is apart from the wet paper RP0 onthe lower side mesh endless belt 45, and part M′ of moisture M combiningthe moisture squeezed from the wet paper RP0 and moisture held in thedewatering roll 70 may not be absorbed by the dewatering roll 70 throughthe mesh endless belt 45, but may be absorbed by the wet paper RP0, andthe wet paper RP0 may return to slurry state.

By contrast, when the slurry preventive roll 75 is provided, as shown inFIG. 9B, near the upstream side of both rolls 70, 71, the upper sidesmooth surface endless belt 95 is pressed to the wet paper RP0 on thelower side mesh endless belt 45, and therefore all of moisture Mcombining the moisture squeezed from the wet paper RP0 and moisture heldin the dewatering roll 70 drops to the lower side through the meshendless belt 45, and is not absorbed again in the wet paper RP0, and thewet paper RP0 is completely prevented from returning to slurry state,and the squeezing and dewatering action by the press roll 71 anddewatering roll 70 can be assisted preliminarily.

By squeezing of both rolls 70, 71, part of moisture M of wet paper RP0squeezed to the upstream side passes between the both rolls 70, 71together with the dewatering layer 70 b of the dewatering roll 70 andwet paper RP0, and on the moment of passing between the both rolls 70,71, the dewatering layer 70 b of the dewatering roll 70 elasticallyreturns to the original shape, and by this original shape restoringaction, the wet paper RP0 is further dewatered. As a result, themoisture content of the wet paper RP0 is decreased to a specified value.

The wet paper RP0 squeezed and dewatered by the dewatering roll unit 41is transferred and rolled on the lower side of the upper side smoothsurface endless belt 95 from the upper side of the lower side meshendless belt 45 at downstream side position of dewatering roll unit 41,and is conveyed together with the smooth surface endless belt 95, and isdried by the drying belt conveyor unit 42.

Meanwhile, the rolling action seems to be caused by smooth surfacestructure of the smooth surface endless belt 95. That is, the surface ofthe lower side mesh endless belt 45 is rough and porous with manycontinuous fine pores, whereas the surface of the upper side smoothsurface endless belt 95 is smooth and intact, and hence the wet paperRP0 containing moisture is considered to be adsorbed by the surfacetension against the surface of the smooth surface endless belt 95.

The drying belt conveyor unit 42 is a location for manufacturingrecycled paper RP by drying the wet paper RP0 squeezed and dewatered inthe dewatering roll unit 41 after the paper making process in the papermaking net conveyor 40, and includes the smooth surface endless belt 95,drive motor 96, and a heating and drying unit 97.

The smooth surface endless belt 95 conveys the wet paper RP0 whileheating and drying, and is specifically an endless belt of a smoothplate material of specified width connected and formed in an annularform of specified length.

The specified width is, same as in the mesh endless belt 45, slightlylarger than the width dimension of the recycled paper RP to bemanufactured. The plate material of smooth surface structure is amaterial capable of finishing one side of the wet paper RP0 in a propersmooth surface, and withstanding the heat of the heating and drying unit97, and is preferably an elastic heat resistant material, such asfluoroplastics or stainless steel, and a fluoroplastic belt is used inthe illustrated preferred embodiment. The specified length is longenough for heating and drying the wet paper RP0 to manufacture recycledpaper RP as completed product, and is small enough to be contained inthe accommodating space of the drying belt conveyor unit 42 in theapparatus case 5.

The smooth surface endless belt 95 is, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2,suspended and supported rotatably by way of drive roller 100, drivenrollers 101, 102, press roll 71, slurry preventive roll 75, smoothsurface finishing rolls 103, 103, and preliminarily dewatering roll 74,and is linked and driven by the drive motor 96 by way of the driveroller 100.

The drive motor 96 for driving the smooth surface endless belt 95 isused commonly as the driving source of the paper making net conveyorunit 40 and dewatering roll unit 41 as mentioned above, and the sharingstructure, that is, the drive coupling mechanism is shown in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 105 is a power transmission gear, numeral106 is a sprocket, numeral 107 is a power transmission chain stretchedbetween sprockets 106, 106, and numeral 78 is a power transmissionshaft.

The gear ratio of the power transmission gears 105, 105, . . . andsprockets 106, 106, . . . is determined so that all of drive roller 100,driven rollers 101, 102, press roll 71, slurry preventive roll 75,smooth surface finishing rolls 103, 103, and preliminarily dewateringroll 74 may roll and contact mutually at substantially same peripheralspeed because the drive source is a single drive motor 96.

The heating and drying unit 97 is a location for heating and drying thewet paper RP0 on the smooth surface endless belt 95, and includes aheater plate 109 which is a heating unit disposed on the way of runningroute of the smooth surface endless belt 95.

The heater plate 109 in the illustrated preferred embodiment is providedin the horizontal running portion in the running route of the smoothsurface endless belt 95, and is specifically disposed to contactslidably with the upper side of holding side of the wet paper RP0 andthe opposite side or the lower side of the smooth surface endless belt95. Hence, the wet paper RP0 on the smooth surface endless belt 95 isheated and dried indirectly by the smooth surface endless belt 95 heatedby the heater plate 109.

In the running route of the smooth surface endless belt 95, two smoothsurface finishing rolls 103, 103 are disposed. Specifically, thesesmooth surface finishing rolls 103, 103 are disposed parallel oppositelyto the heater plate 109, in the horizontal running portion in therunning route of the smooth surface endless belt 95.

The both smooth surface finishing rolls 103, 103 sequentially roll andpress on the wet paper RP0 on the smooth surface endless belt 95, andfinish the one side and opposite side of the wet paper RP0 contactingwith the surface of the smooth surface endless belt 95 to a propersmooth surface.

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, two smooth surface finishingrolls 103, 103 are provided, but the number of smooth surface finishingrolls may be increased or decreased properly depending on the purpose.

At the downstream side of the heating and drying unit 97 of the smoothsurface endless belt 95, a parting member 110 is provided. The partingmember 110 is specifically an elastic spatula having a proper heatresistance, and the parting member 110 in the illustrated preferredembodiment is an elastic and deformable stainless steel plate of about0.1 to 0.3 mm in thickness of which outer surface is coated with Teflon(registered trademark), and its base end is supported at the fixed side(not shown), and its leading end edge 110 a is elastically fitted andfixed to the surface of the smooth surface endless belt 95.

The recycled paper RP heated and dried on the smooth surface endlessbelt 95 is sequentially parted from the holding side of the smoothsurface endless belt 95 by the leading end edge 110 a of the partingmember 110.

In relation to this, at the downstream side of the parting member 110,that is, at end position of running route of the smooth surface endlessbelt 95, a cutter 111 is provided for cutting to a specified size.Specific structure of the cutter 111 is not shown, and may include, forexample, a conventional two-side slitter, and guillotine cutter bysolenoid.

The recycled paper RP parted from the smooth surface endless belt 95 iscut to specified size by the cutter 111 (vertical dimension of A4 sizein the example), and recycled paper RP of proper size is discharged froma discharge port 112 of the apparatus case 5. For cutting in specifiedlength, the belt feed rate of the smooth surface endless belt 95 ismeasured by a sensor such as proximity switch.

IV. Control Section 4

The control section 4 is for automatically controlling the actions ofthe drive units of the crushing section 6 and paper making section 3 incooperation, and is specifically composed of microcomputer includingCPU, ROM, RAM, and input and output ports.

The control section 4 stores programs for operating the pulp makingprocess of the pulp making section 2 and paper making process of thepaper making section in cooperation, and also stores informationnecessary for driving the individual parts, including the driving timeof stirring device 8 in the crushing section 6, operation timing ofwater feeding device 9, running speed of conveyor units 40, 42 in thepaper making section 3, driving time of heating and drying unit 97, andoperation timing of the cutter 111, being entered preliminarily as dataor selectively through keyboard.

Various units are electrically connected to the control section 4, suchas float switches 18, 19, 30, 87, 88, and drive units 12, 16, 31, 46(72, 96), 89, 105, 111, and the control section 4 controls the driveunits 12, 16, 31, 46 (72, 96), 89, 105, 111 according to measured valuesand stored data.

The used paper recycling apparatus 1 having such configuration isstarted when the power is supplied, and the control units areautomatically controlled by the control section 4 in mutual relation,and the following processes are executed. Used paper UP, UP, . . .charged in the used paper recycling apparatus 1 is crushed in thecrushing section 6, and leak of confidential and personal informationprinted in the used paper UP is effectively prevented, and used paperpulp UPP is processed in the paper making section 3, and recycled paperRP is manufactured.

i) The heater plate 109 of the heating and drying unit 97 startsheating, and when heated to specified temperature, the specifiedtemperature is maintained automatically thereafter.

ii) The crushing section 7 starts operation, and a specified volume ofwater W is supplied into the stirring tank 10 of the stirring device 8from the water feeding device 9. The specified volume is a minimumrequired amount for crushing and beating the used paper UP, UP, . . .charged in the stirring tank 10 (about 3 liters in the illustratedpreferred embodiment), and the water feed time of the water feeding pump16 is controlled by a timer.

iii) Used paper UP, UP, . . . is charged from the inlet 10 a of thestirring device 8 by a specified number of sheets (amount) determinedfrom the processing capacity of the apparatus 1 (in the illustratedpreferred embodiment, about 8 sheets of A4 format=about 32 g), and thestart switch is turned on, then the stirring device 8 starts operation,and the stirring impeller 11 repeats normal and reverse rotation forspecified time (3 to 5 minutes in the illustrated preferred embodiment)by the timer operation, so that the used paper UP, UP, . . . is crushedand beaten, and processed into used paper pulp UPP.

iv) By timer operation of stirring impeller 11 for specified time, theused paper UP, UP, . . . is processed into used paper pulp UPP, and thenthe beating section 7 starts operation, and the communication opening 20b of the beating tank 20 is opened, and the beater roller 21 startsrotation.

Consequently, the beating tank 20 and stirring tank 10 compose a pulpcirculation cell, and the used paper pulp UPP crushed and beaten by thestirring impeller 11 flows into the beating tank 20, and flows in therotating direction of the beater roller 21, and is beaten again in thecrushing section 7, and circulated again into the stirring tank 20, andcirculates again in the pulp circulation cells 10, 20, and is stirredand crushed by the crushing section 6 and beaten by the beating section7 again for a specified time by timer operation (5 to 30 minutes in theillustrated preferred embodiment), so that the used paper pulp UPP isbeaten until assuring enough paper strength for recycling of paper inthe subsequent paper making section 3.

v) When the used paper pulp UPP is beaten sufficiently, operation ofbeating section 7 stops, and the drain valve of the stirring device 8 isopened, and the whole volume of used paper pulp UPP in the stirring tank10 is discharged into the concentration adjusting tank 29.

In this case, also for the purpose of cleaning of stirring tank 10, inthe midst of discharge of used paper pulp UPP, water is supplied intothe stirring tank 10 from the water feeding device 9, and the stirringimpeller 11 is rotated. The opening time of the discharge valve, supplyof cleaning water, and rotation of stirring impeller 11 are sequentiallycontrolled by the timer.

vi) Simultaneously with discharge and supply of used paper pulp UPP intothe concentration adjusting tank 29 or after discharge and supply, whitewater W is supplied into the concentration adjusting tank 29 from thewater feeding device for concentration adjustment 9. White water W isadded and supplied until the float switch 30 in the concentrationadjusting tank 29 detects the water level. By addition of white water W,the concentration of used paper pulp UPP is adjusted, and pulpsuspension PS of specified concentration is prepared.

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, to the whole quantity of usedpaper pulp UPP (about 32 g of used paper UP+3 liters of water W), whitewater W is added until the water volume in the concentration adjustingtank 29 becomes 30 liters, that is, the total volume (whole amount) ofused paper pulp UPP and water W becomes 30 liters, and hence the pulpsuspension PS is adjusted to concentration of about 0.1%.

vii) The pulp suspension PS completed in concentration adjustment in theconcentration adjusting tank 29 is almost entirely supplied into thepulp feeding tank 85 by operation of first suspension feeding pump 31when the float switch 30 is turned on. This whole volume supply is alsocontrolled by timer.

While the pulp suspension PS is being supplied into the pulp feedingtank 85, the water in the white water collecting tank 15 is not suppliedinto the concentration adjusting tank 29 (to prevent the adjustedconcentration from changing).

viii) When the lower limit float switch 87 in the pulp feeding tank 85(disposed corresponding to the water level of minimum water volumenecessary for starting paper making process) is turned on, the drivemotor 46 (72, 96) is driven, and the mesh endless belt 45 is driven tostart paper making process, and the pulp suspension PS in the pulpfeeding tank 85 is supplied into the overflow tank 81 of the pulpfeeding tank 47 by the second suspension feeding pump 89.

In this case, for the portion of the time of sending of pulp suspensionPS to the pulp feeding unit 47, the drive motor 46 (72, 96) is driven bya specified time lag, and the mesh endless belt 45 is delayed inoperation.

The drive motor 46 (72, 96) is used not only for the mesh endless belt45, but also used commonly as rotating and driving source of rolls 70,71 of dewatering roll 41, running and driving source of smooth surfaceendless belt 95 of drying belt conveyor unit 42, and rotating anddriving source of smooth surface finishing rolls 103, 103, and hencethey are operated simultaneously in cooperation.

ix) The pulp suspension PS supplied in the overflow tank 81 overflowsfrom the overflow tank 81, and flows down onto the flat plate member 82of the partition member 79, and is uniformly diffused on the surface ofthe mesh endless belt 45 by retention action by cooperation of the mainbody frame 80 of the frame body 78 and the partition member 79. At thesame time, by running action of the mesh endless belt 45, the diffusedpulp suspension PS is conveyed as being dragged by the mesh endless belt45 while maintaining the width dimension specified by the main bodyframe 80, and is filtered and dewatered by the mesh of the mesh endlessbelt 45, and wet paper RP0 is produced.

White water W filtered and dewatered by the mesh endless belt 45 iscollected in the white water collecting tank 15 in the water feedingdevice 9, and is circulated and used again.

x) The wet paper RP0 conveyed together with the mesh endless belt 45 isconverted from the inclined running state to horizontal running state atthe preliminarily dewatering roll 74, and is further lightly dewateredby combined and synergistic effects by cooperation with moistureabsorbing action of the preliminarily dewatering roll 74, and is heldbetween the mesh endless belt 45 and smooth surface endless belt 95 bythe pressing action of the slurry preventive roll 75, and sent into thedewatering roll unit 41.

xi) In the dewatering roll unit 41, by the pressing action of the slurrypreventive roll 75, the wet paper RP0 held between the mesh endless belt45 and smooth surface endless belt 95 passes between the dewatering roll70 and press roll 71 while being rolled and squeezed flatly from theupper and lower sides by the both rolls 70, 71. As a result, the wetpaper RP0 is dewatered to specified moisture content by the squeezingand dewatering mechanism shown in FIG. 6B, along with preliminaryassisting action by the slurry preventive roll 75 as mentioned above.

xii) The wet paper RP0 squeezed and dewatered by the dewatering rollunit 41 is transferred and rolled on the upper side smooth surfaceendless belt 95 from the lower side mesh endless belt 45 at thedownstream side position of the dewatering roll unit 41, and is conveyedthis time together with the smooth surface endless belt 95, and heatedand dried by the heater plate 109 of the drying belt conveyor unit 42,and recycled paper RP is manufactured.

At the same time, the wet paper RP0 or recycled paper RP is continuouslyrolled and pressed by two smooth surface finishing rolls 103, 103disposed at the opposite side of the heater plate 109 against the smoothsurface endless belt 95, and the side contacting with the surface of thesmooth surface endless belt 95 and the opposite side surface arefinished smoothly.

xiii) The recycled paper RP finished by the two smooth surface finishingrolls 103, 103 is affixed and held on the surface of the smooth surfaceendless belt 95, and is sequentially parted from the holding side of thesmooth surface endless belt 95 by the leading end edge 110 a of theparting member 110, and is cut to a specified size by the cutter 111,and the recycled paper RP of specified shape and size is discharged fromthe discharge port 112 of the apparatus case 5.

xiv) When the pulp suspension PS in the pulp feeding tank 85 decreasesfrom the water level necessary for starting paper making process (almostempty state), the lower limit float switch 87 is turned off, and supplyof pulp suspension PS by second suspension feeding pump 89 is stopped,and the drive motor 46 (72, 96) is also stopped, and the paper makingprocess stops.

In this case, the drive motor 46 (72, 96) is stopped after a specifiedtime lag for the portion of the time until the pulp suspension PSpresently in the paper making process is completely discharged from thedischarge port 112 as recycled paper RP.

xv) Thereafter, back to step iii), used paper UP, UP, . . . is chargedby a specified number of sheets (amount) determined from the processingcapacity of the apparatus 1 (in the illustrated preferred embodiment,about 8 sheets of A4 format=about 32 g), and the start switch is turnedon again, and steps iv) to xiv) are repeated.

These steps show operations necessary for manufacturing recycled paperfrom used paper, and actual operation is protected by safety measuresand other interlock controls.

Therefore, the used paper recycling apparatus 1 having suchconfiguration brings about the following effects, and it can beinstalled not only in a big office but also in small shop or generalhousehold, and is friendly to the environment and low in running cost,and is capable of preventing leak of confidential information or privatedata, and assuring high confidentiality.

(1) A pulp making section 2 for crushing and beating used paper UP andmaking into pulp, a paper making section 3 for recycling paper by makingused paper pulp UPP from the pulp making section 2, and a controlsection 4 for driving and controlling by interlocking the pulp makingsection 2 and paper making section 3 are incorporated in a furnituresize apparatus case 5, and therefore the used paper UP can be recycledat the origin without being discarded, and the disposal is saved, andrefuse problems are solved, and the limited resources can be utilizedeffectively.

In particular, recycling is not encouraged due to confidential problems,but when the used paper can be recycled at the origin, the effects ofeffective use of resources are tremendous.

(2) Since a compact used paper recycling apparatus having same functionas large-scale plant is installed at the origin of used paper UP, papercan be used continuously repeatedly by recycling also at small shop orgeneral household, and transportation and incineration cost ofcollection and disposal of used paper UP can be saved and it is veryeconomical.

(3) The pulp making section 2 includes a crushing unit 6 for stirringand grinding the used paper UP, and a beating unit 7 for beating thecrushed used paper UP from the crushing unit 6, and the crushing unit 6and beating unit 7 are circulating the used paper pulp UPP, andtherefore the used paper pulp UPP is beaten efficiently according to thepurpose, and appropriate beating effects are obtained, and recycledpaper RP of high quality is manufactured.

(4) By the pulp making section 2 for crushing and beating used paper UPto manufacture used paper pulp UPP, the used paper UP is decomposed intofibers, and printed characters and diagrams are not readable, and leakof confidential and personal information can be prevented, and highconfidentiality is assured.

(5) Besides, the apparatus is compact and can be installed in a smallspace of office, shop or general household, and from this point of view,too, leak of confidential and personal information can be prevented.

(6) The water W used in the pulp making section 2 is circulated water Wafter dewatering and collecting in the paper making section 3, and thedriving source of the pulp making section 2 and paper making section 3is a drive source driven by general household alternating-current powersource, and it is friendly to environment and low in running cost, andis hence economical.

(7) Being installed at the origin of used paper UP, the used paper UP isdecomposed and transformed into used paper pulp UPP by the pulp makingsection 2, and the used paper pulp UPP is processed into recycled paperRP by the paper making section 3, and the used paper UP is used again asrecycled paper RP at the origin, and therefore information of charactersand diagrams printed in the used paper UP is not disclosed to outside ofthe origin, and leak of confidential and personal information isprevented securely, and high confidentiality is assured. At the sametime, the resources can be utilized effectively.

By using the used paper recycling apparatus 1 of the preferredembodiment there is no risk of diffusion of information to outside ofthe origin (for example, school, hospital, city office, law office,patent office, general household).

In other words, in the case of conventional shredder, if the used paperis cut into small pieces and printed characters and diagrams are notreadable, cut pieces of paper are collected and transported and disposedat the incinerator or the like, and hence diffusion to outside of theorigin cannot be prevented completely. To prevent diffusion to outside,used paper may be stored in the own warehouse or the like, but suchplace of storage is needed, and the resources cannot be used again.

By contrast, according to the used paper recycling apparatus 1 of thepreferred embodiment, information printed in used paper UP is notdiffused outside of the origin, and the resources can be utilizedeffectively.

Preferred Embodiment 2

This Preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 10 to FIG. 12, in which theused paper recycling apparatus 1 of preferred embodiment 1 is slightlymodified.

That is, in the used paper recycling apparatus 1 of this preferredembodiment, the specific structure of the dewatering roll unit 41 anddrying belt conveyor 42 in the paper making section 3 in preferredembodiment 1 is slightly modified.

The dewatering roll unit 41 of this preferred embodiment has dewateringroll 70 and press roll 71 as principal components, and includespreliminarily dewatering roll 74, slurry preventive roll 75, and drainroll 120 as auxiliary parts of drive motor 72.

The drain roll 120 is intended to squeeze and drain the moisturecontained in the dewatering layer 70 b of the dewatering roll 70, and itis a cylindrical roll of small diameter made of rigid material, and ispressed and rolled on the outer circumference of the dewatering roll 70.

Along with rotation of dewatering roll 70, the drain roll 120 rolls andsqueezes the dewatering layer 70 b of the dewatering roll 70, and themoisture absorbed in the dewatering layer 70 b is squeezed and drained.

By such structure, if the well-beaten used paper pulp UPP is inferior infiltering and dewatering property and cannot be easily dewatered fromthe mesh endless belt 45, since the drain roll 120 is assisting thedewatering roll 70, the drain amount from the dewatering layer 70 b isincreased substantially, and the squeezing and dewatering action in thedewatering roll unit 41 can be further enhanced from preferredembodiment 1.

For the same purpose, in the illustrated preferred embodiment, thepreliminarily dewatering roll 74 is also furnished with drain roll 121.The specific structure of drain roll 121 is same as that of drain roll120.

The drying belt conveyor unit 42 is provided with a plurality of heaterplates 109 for composing the heating and drying unit 97.

In this preferred embodiment, the heater plate 109 in preferredembodiment 1 is divided into three sections, and the heating temperatureof these heater plates 109 a, 109 b, 109 c can be controlledindividually.

In the preferred embodiment, the number of smooth surface finishingrolls 123 disposed oppositely to the heater plates 109 a, 109 b, 109 cis increased to six from two in preferred embodiment 1. These six smoothsurface finishing rolls 123, 123, . . . are disposed parallel at smallintervals oppositely to the entire surface of heater plates 109 a, 109b, 109 c.

Heaters are incorporated in the smooth surface finishing rolls 123 ofthe preferred embodiment, and they also function as heating rolls.

In the heating and drying unit 97 thus composed, the wet paper RP0 onthe smooth surface endless belt 95 is heated and dried by the heaterplates 109 a, 109 b, 109 c, and depending on the moisture content of thewet paper RP0, the wet paper RP0 may be wound around the smooth surfacefinishing rolls 123, 123, . . . , but, for example, by the first heaterplate 109 a, it can be dried to such a moisture content as not to bewound around the smooth surface finishing rolls 123, 123, . . . .

After the next heater plates 109 b, 109 c, the wet paper RP0 issequentially rolled and pressed from the upper side by the smoothsurface finishing rolls 123, 123, . . . , and the wet paper RP0 isheated from surface and back sides by the smooth surface finishing rolls123, 123, . . . , and the heater plates 109 b, 109 c, and the paper isdried to smooth surface on both sides without making creases.

In this configuration, as mentioned above, if the well-beaten used paperpulp UPP is inferior in filtering and dewatering property and cannot beeasily dried by releasing vapor, creases, curl, wave, or distortion maybe caused by vapor, such problems can be solved.

Other structure and action are same as in preferred embodiment 1.

Preferred Embodiment 3

This preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, in which theused paper recycling apparatus 1 of preferred embodiment 1 is slightlymodified.

The used paper recycling apparatus 1 of the embodiment has a compactappearance as shown in FIG. 13 that can be installed anywhere, includingthe business scene of government and private company offices, and theprivate scene of general household.

In the used paper recycling apparatus 1, the driving source of pulpmaking section 2 and paper making section 3 is a power source driven byalternating-current power source for general household same as inpreferred embodiment 1, and as shown in FIG. 13, the leading end of thepower cord 130 has a plug 132 to be inserted and connected to a wallpower outlet 131 in office or home.

The apparatus case 5 is, as shown in FIG. 13, a nearly cubic box smallerthan an office copier, and casters 133, 133, . . . are provided in thebottom as moving means, and it is free to move on the floor F.

The top panel of, the apparatus case 5 includes an inlet 10 a forcharging used paper UP, and an operation panel 140 including startbutton and operation buttons, and at the upper end front side, further,a recycled paper stock 141 is provided for piling recycled paper RP, RP,. . . . A discharge port 112 of apparatus case 5 is disposed oppositelyto the recycled paper stock 141, and recycled paper RP, RP, . . .discharged from the discharge port 112 is sequentially piled up inlayers. A transparent protective cover 142 is put on the recycled paperstock 141 to be opened and closed from the upper side.

A shredder unit 143 is provided at the inlet 10 a of the stirring tank10. The shredder unit 143 is intended to improve the efficiency ofcrushing and beating by the stirring device 8 by preliminarily cuttingthe used paper UP, UP, . . . charged into the inlet 10 a.

A specific structure of shredder unit 143 is similar to conventionalshredder, having a mechanism for cutting used paper UP into smallpieces, and the cutting size of this cutting mechanism is determined tosatisfy the following condition.

A conventional shredder is designed to cut to a very small size in orderto prevent leak of confidential and personal information composed ofcharacters and diagrams printed on the paper by cutting the until thecharacters and diagrams printed on the used paper UP are not recognizedvisually, but the main purpose of shredder unit 143 of the preferredembodiment is to a size so that the used paper pulp UPP manufacturedfrom the cut used paper CUP, CUP, . . . may have desired characteristicas material pulp for recycled paper RP to be manufactured in the nextprocess of paper making section 3.

For this purpose, the cutting size of the cutting mechanism of theshredder unit 143 is set to such an extent that the paper fiber of cutused paper CUP may not be cut smaller than the size desired as materialpulp for recycled paper RP. As far as this condition is satisfied,therefore, the specific structure of the cutting mechanism is notspecified, and includes double cut type, cross cut type, and others.

When the used paper UP is charged from the inlet 10 a, the used paper UPis preliminarily cut by the shredder unit 143 into cut used paper CUP,CUP, . . . of specified size, and stirred for specified time in water Wsupplied from the water feeding device 9 by normal and reverse rotationof the stirring impeller 11 of the stirring device 8, and crushed andbeaten, and used paper pulp UPP is prepared. This crushing and beatingtime is shorter than in preferred embodiment 1.

Specific structure and action of other components, that is, waterfeeding device 9 of crushing unit 6 and beating unit 7 of pulp makingsection 2, pulp concentration adjusting unit 28, paper making netconveyor unit 40, dewatering roll unit 41 and drying belt conveyor 42 ofpaper making section 3, and control section 4 are same as in preferredembodiment 1, except that the apparatus case 5 is reduced in size and iscompact.

Preferred Embodiment 4

This preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 15, in which the used paperrecycling apparatus 1 of preferred embodiment 1 is slightly modified.

The used paper recycling apparatus 1 of the preferred embodiment has alarge size to be installed in the business scene of special processingroom in government and private company offices.

Specific structure of the used paper recycling apparatus 1 is not shown,but the components in preferred embodiment 1 to preferred embodiment 3are increased in size or changed in layout, such as crushing unit 6 andbeating unit 7 of pulp making section 2, pulp concentration adjustingunit 28, and paper making net conveyor unit 40, dewatering roll unit 41and drying belt conveyor 42 of paper making section 3, and a largeramount of used paper UP, UP, . . . can be processed.

In the used paper recycling apparatus 1 having such structure, where awide space for installation is available, used paper UP, UP, . . . canbe charged into the inlet 10 a in batch once a year or several times ayear periodically, and can be processed sequentially and continuously inthe pulp making section 2 and paper making section 3 in the apparatuscase 5 as explained in preferred embodiment 1, and many sheets ofrecycled paper RP, RP, . . . are continuously discharged from thedischarge port (not shown) into the recycled paper stock 141, and thesesheets of recycled paper RP, RP, . . . are piled up in layers by manualwork or filing mechanism (not shown) of the used paper recyclingapparatus 1.

Preferred Embodiment 5

This preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 16, in which the used paperrecycling apparatus 1 of preferred embodiment 1 is slightly modified.

The used paper recycling apparatus 1 of the preferred embodiment has asmall size of desktop type to be installed in the personal scene ofsmall office or general household, at corner of top 145 a of desk 145 orother narrow space.

Specific structure of the used paper recycling apparatus 1 is not shownas in preferred embodiment 4, but the components in preferred embodiment1 to preferred embodiment 3 are decreased in size or simplified infunction, such as crushing unit 6 and beating unit 7 of pulp makingsection 2, pulp concentration adjusting unit 28, and paper making netconveyor unit 40, dewatering roll unit 41 and drying belt conveyor 42 ofpaper making section 3, and it is suited to processing of a smalleramount of used paper UP, UP, . . . .

The used paper recycling apparatus 1 having such structure is installedon the desk 145 as shown in the example, and a small amount of usedpaper UP, UP, . . . occurring in daily work or daily life is put in theinlet 10 a sheet by sheet, and is sequentially and continuouslyprocessed in the pulp making section 2 and paper making section 3 in theapparatus case 5 as explained in preferred embodiment 1, and isdischarged as recycled paper RP from the discharge port 112 sequentiallyin the recycled paper stock 141, and piled up in layers automatically.

Preferred embodiments 1 to 5 are preferred embodiments, but theinvention is not limited to them alone, but may be changed and modifiedwithin its scope. For example, the invention may be modified as follows.

(1) In the illustrated preferred embodiments, the heater plate 109 isused as heating unit of the heating and drying unit 97, but instead ofthe heater plate 109, rotary heater roll, hot air heater, and otherheating means may be used.

That is, although not shown specifically, when the heater roll is usedas heating unit of heating and drying unit 97, for example, the heaterroll is disposed to roll directly on the wet paper RP0 on the smoothsurface endless belt 95, and the wet paper RP0 on the smooth surfaceendless belt 95 is directly heated and dried by the heater roll.

Or when the hot air heater is used as heating unit of heating and dryingunit 97, for example, the hot air heater blows hot air to the wet paperRP0 on the smooth surface endless belt 95, and the wet paper RP0 on thesmooth surface endless belt 95 is directly heated and dried by the hotair heater.

(2) In specific process by the control section 4, by changing theprogram, the process executed in preferred embodiment 1 (pulp makingprocess by pulp making section 2 and paper making process by papermaking section 3) may be changed to other process, and the design may bechanged appropriately depending on the purpose or processing capacity.

As the invention may be embodied in several forms without departing fromthe spirit of essential characteristics thereof, the present preferredembodiments are therefore illustrative and not restrictive, since thescope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than bythe description preceding them, and all changes that fall within metesand bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and boundsthereof are therefore intended to be embraced by the claims.

1-71. (canceled)
 72. A dewatering device incorporated in a used paperrecycling apparatus of furniture size capable to be installed at anoriginating source of used paper, being a device for composing thedewatering section of a paper making device for producing recycled paperby processing used paper pulp manufactured in pulp making section in apreceding process, wherein the dewatering device is a dewatering rollunit installed at a junction of a paper making net conveyor unit formanufacturing wet paper from slurry pulp suspension containing water andused paper pulp sent from the pulp making section, and a drying beltconveyor unit for making recycled paper by drying the wet paper formedin the paper making conveyor unit, and wherein the dewatering roll unitincludes a dewatering roll rolling and contacting with a mesh endlessbelt from the lower side and a press roll rolling and pressing thesmooth surface endless belt against the dewatering roll from the lowerside, and wherein by the dewatering roll and press roll, the meshendless belt and smooth surface endless belt are rolled and squeezedflatly from the upper and lower sides, and the moisture contained in thewet paper on the mesh endless belt is absorbed by the dewatering rollthrough the mesh endless belt.
 73. The dewatering device of used paperrecycling apparatus of claim 72, wherein the dewatering roll rolls onthe mesh endless belt from the lower side, the press roll rolls andpresses the smooth surface endless belt from the upper side opposite tothe dewatering roll, wherein a drive motor rotates and drives bothrolls, wherein by the dewatering roll and press roll rolled by the drivemotor, the mesh endless belt and smooth surface endless belt are rolledand squeezed flatly from the upper and lower sides, and the moisturecontained in the wet paper on the mesh endless belt is absorbed by thedewatering roll through the mesh endless belt.
 74. The dewatering deviceof used paper recycling apparatus of claim 73, wherein the dewateringroll has a dewatering layer made of porous material of fine andcontinuous pores formed on the outer circumference of a cylindrical rollof rigid material.
 75. The dewatering device of used paper recyclingapparatus of claim 73, wherein a discharge roll is provided forsqueezing and discharging moisture contained in the dewatering layer ofthe dewatering roll, and this discharge roll rolls and contacts with theouter circumference of the dewatering roll in pressed state, and alongwith rotation of the dewatering roll, the discharge roll rolls andsqueezes the dewatering layer of the dewatering roll, and the moistureabsorbed in the dewatering layer is squeezed and discharged.
 76. Thedewatering device of used paper recycling apparatus of claim 75, whereinthe press roll is a cylindrical roll composed of rigid material.
 77. Thedewatering device of used paper recycling apparatus of claim 73, whereinat the upstream side of the rolling and squeezing position by both beltsof dewatering roll and press roll, a preliminarily dewatering roll forrolling and pressing the mesh endless belt from the lower side isdisposed.
 78. The dewatering device of used paper recycling apparatus ofclaim 77, wherein the preliminarily dewatering roll has a dewateringlayer of porous material of fine and continuous pores formed on theouter circumference of a cylindrical roll of rigid material.
 79. Thedewatering device of used paper recycling apparatus of claim 78, whereina discharge roll is provided for squeezing and discharging moisturecontained in the dewatering layer of the preliminarily dewatering roll,and this discharge roll rolls and contacts with the outer circumferenceof the preliminarily dewatering roll in pressed state, and along withrotation of the preliminarily dewatering roll, the discharge roll rollsand squeezes the dewatering layer of the preliminarily dewatering roll,and the moisture absorbed in the dewatering layer is squeezed anddischarged.
 80. The dewatering device of used paper recycling apparatusof claim 73, wherein a slurry preventive roll for rolling and pressingthe smooth surface endless belt from the upper side is disposed near theupstream side of rolling and squeezing position of the both belts ofdewatering roll and press roll.
 81. The dewatering device of used paperrecycling apparatus of claim 80, wherein the slurry preventive roll is acylindrical roll composed of high rigidity rigid material.